Disney has ordered a second season of “The 7D,” the hit animated TV series which takes a comedic look at the world of the Seven Dwarfs. Fourteen-time Emmy Award-winner Tom Ruegger (“Animaniacs,” “Tiny Toon Adventures”) is executive producer.

“The 7D” currently airs daily on Disney XD in the U.S. and beginning Friday, December 26, will air weekends during the Disney Junior block on Disney Channel. The series is also set to debut in early 2015 on the Disney Junior channel.”The 7D” has premiered in Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, Israel, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, India and Latin America and will continue to roll out globally throughout 2015.

Since its July 2014 launch on Disney XD, “The 7D” has consistently ranked among the network’s top animated original series among Kids 2-11 and Kids 6-11 and as a Top 5 show on WATCHDisneyXD. “The 7D Mine Train,” Disney Publishing’s accompanying app based on the series, has been downloaded over 1.85 million times and has ranked #1 on iPad in the Kids category in 44 countries.

“The 7D” follows brave little heroes – Happy, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey, Grumpy and Doc – as they work together to help the quirky Queen Delightful keep her kingdom in order. Standing in their way are comically inept villains Grim and Hildy Gloom, a novice warlock and witch couple, whose plots to overthrow the queen and rule Jollywood are continually foiled by the 7D.

The series is a production of Disney Television Animation and carries a TV-Y parental guideline. Sherri Stoner and Deanna Oliver are co-story editors, and Alfred Gimeno and Charles Visser are the directors (all from “Tiny Toon Adventures”). Meme master Parry Gripp (“Do You Like Waffles?”) is the songwriter and composer for the series and also performs the theme song. Keith Horn (“Too Cool for Cupcakes”) is co-composer.

Bill has received his 3rd Annie Award Nomination for Outstanding Achievement, Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production as the voices of Goofy and Grandma – Disney Mickey Mouse – Disney Television Animation.

BURBANK, CA (December 1, 2014) – The International Animated Film Society, ASIFAHollywood, announced nominations today for its 42nd Annual Annie Awards™ recognizing the year’s best in the field of animation. For a complete list of nominations, please visit www.annieawards.org.

The Annie Awards cover 36 categories and include Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Special Production, Commercials, Short Subjects and Outstanding Individual Achievements. The winners will be announced at a black tie ceremony on Saturday, January 31, 2015 at UCLA’s Royce Hall. A pre-reception and press line begins at 5:00 pm with the awards ceremony following at 7:00 pm. A post-show celebration immediately follows the ceremony. All events will be held at Royce Hall.

In this episode of The Tiara Talk Show, Bill Farmer (voice of Goofy), Jason Marsden (voice of Max Goof) & screenwriter Jymn Magon chat with host Tammy Tuckey about the 20th anniversary of “A Goofy Movie”, the catchy tunes in the film like “After Today”, what Powerline’s original name was in early drafts of the script, the possibility of another sequel to “A Goofy Movie” and more!

The mood was jovial and nostalgic at Wednesday’s Disney Television Animation’s 30th anniversary fete at Burbank’s Walt Disney Studios’ main theater. The event, hosted by the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) and Disney’s official fan club D23, featured an enlightening panel discussion moderated by D23’s Jeffrey Epstein with the studio’s award-winning creative talent: Bill Farmer (the voice of “Goofy”), Paul Rudish (executive producer of “Mickey Mouse” cartoon shorts); Jymn Magon (writer of “Duck Tales” and “Darkwing Duck”); Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh (co-executive producers of “Phineas and Ferb”); Rob LaDuca (executive producer of “Jake and the Never Land Pirates”); and Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle (co-creators/executive producers of “Kim Possible”).

“Disney has perhaps the greatest animation legacy in the world,” said Eric Coleman, senior vice president, original series, Disney Television Animation. “We are so proud to take a sneak peek into the headspace of the work that these people pour their heart and soul into. These geniuses have brought us 30 years of Disney Television animation.”

Disney’s “The 7D,” a contemporary, comedic take on the world of the Seven Dwarfs, will premiere MONDAY, JULY 7 (10:00 a.m., ET/PT) on Disney XD, and will debut on Disney Channel and Disney Junior later this year. Joining the voice cast are Jay Leno and Whoopi Goldberg in the recurring roles of Crystal Ball and Magic Mirror, respectively. The series’ previously announced voice cast includes Kelly Osbourne as the comically evil villain Hildy Gloom.

This June, Disney Publishing Worldwide will release “The 7D Mine Train” app, a side-scrolling adventure that introduces users to the re-imagined Seven Dwarfs and allows them to choose one of the characters to pilot a mine cart through a variety of Jollywood locales including the 7D’s mine, the Gloom’s Grotto and the Queen’s Treasure Room, collecting gems along the way.

Set in the contemporary storybook world of Jollywood, “The 7D” follows brave little heroes Happy, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey, Grumpy and Doc as they work together to maintain order in the kingdom. Standing in their way are Grim and Hildy Gloom, a novice warlock and witch couple, who haplessly plot to dethrone the Queen and take over Jollywood.

In the premiere episode, “Long, Long Winter/Itsy Bitsy Spider Fighters,” the 7D rescue the villagers of Jollywood from an eternal winter spell that the Glooms have cast on the kingdom and help Queen Delightful rid the castle of a pesky spider.

“I always find that everyone just wants to do their best, but I always find that if I can entertain myself, because l think we are probably the hardest critics on our own performance …you go out and say oh what was I doing on that take. Uh, you want to do your best, so if you can entertain yourself, generally the audience will be entertained. So, I always put that as a bench mark. If I can make it as funny as the line really is in the performance, I think I’ve done my job.” — Bill Farmer, Variety 411 Interview

:“The 7D” is directed by Kelly Ward, who directed all six/seven years of “Mickey Mouse 7DnewdesignsClubhouse”, so I know him very well. Tom Ruegger, who did “Animaniacs”, is the producer. It is kind of a prequel in the way to “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. So there is no Snow White. They look much different as well from what you would expect with the classic Dwarfs. They decided to reinvent them since the things that they do are in a more modern fairy tale land. So rather than have the traditional dwarfs change their characters, they started from the ground up and came up with a new incarnation of these dwarfs. They are very well written and we have an amazing cast. It is definitely the who’s who in the voice over world including Maurice LaMarche, Kevin Michael Richardson, Billy West, Scott Menville, Stephen Stanton, Dee Bradley Baker and many more. We just finished recording the first season of 20-30 episodes and it was such a blast. They are being animated as we speak and it should hit the air somewhere around June this year. So I get to voice Doc and also a new dog character named Sir Yips A-lot, which was cool since I go to do more dogs besides just Pluto.”

Voice-over actors are rarely seen, not even by other voice actors. They’re confined to a small, sound-proof recording booth until their role is perfected. They may only see fellow cast members as they arrive to, or depart from, their recording sessions. Using only audio cues to relay the complexities of their character’s emotional and physical journey, the voice over artists are left alone to create their character’s unique auditory traits. When a cast does have the opportunity to converge, their delight in seeing each other reaches deafening decibels.

To discuss the creation of their characters in “The 7D”, Disney’s comedic take on the world of the “Seven Dwarves”, eight voice over veterans gathered at the Variety offices and proceed to tease, torment and spread lavish praise to each other for over an hour. In addition to discussing their 7D characters, Maurice LaMarche (Grumpy), Jess Harnell (Grim Gloom), Bill Farmer (Doc/Sir Yipsalot), Kevin Michael Richardson (Happy), Scott Menville (Sneezy), Paul Rugg (Lord Starchbottom), Stephen Stanton (Sleepy) and Billy West (Bashful), along with voice director Kelly Ward, shared important highlights pertaining to their craft. In the first of a two part series, these icons of the industry explain the craft of voice overs – in their own words, (and with the voices of Ozzy Osborne, Orson Welles, Jason Alexander, and countless animated characters)

After taking in DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia, Bill is headed “Down Under” to visit with all his Australia fans at Oz Comic Con Brisbane (September 6-7, 2014) and OzCon Sydney (September 13-14, 2014)

From the OZ Comic Con web site…

Oz Comic-Con will showcase not only international talent, but also the vast mix of local talent in many areas as well. It features multi-genre content from across the spectrum; from film and television stars to comic book and anime artists, gaming demonstrations and cosplay competitions, to portfolio reviews and creative workshops and master classes to make it the biggest and the best pop-culture expo in Australia!

Oz Comic-Con will be more than just a gathering place for fans of the various branches of pop-culture. It will celebrate and educate. It’s the place to come if you want to share your love of pop-culture, get up close and personal with celebrities, enter contests with fantastic prizes, or learn how to break into the industry. There will be activities and events galore; more than enough to keep you busy for a full weekend, and wanting to come back for more.

Bill will be part of DragonCon 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia from August 29, 2014 through September 1, 2014 over the US Labor Day Weekend Holiday.

What is DragonCon?

Dragon Con is an annual Sci-Fi and Fantasy convention held in Atlanta over Labor Day Weekend. Dragon Con started in 1987 as an outgrowth of a local SF and gaming group, the Dragon Alliance of Gamers and Role-Players. Over Dragon*Con Logo from official Press Kitthe years, the convention has grown to cover more than just Science Fiction, Fantasy, and gaming. Besides those original programming tracks, Dragon Con now covers over 30 additional areas of interest. This essentially makes Dragon Con 30+ conventions in one! Key events at Dragon Con include several Costuming Contests, including the Masquerade, Independent films, 3 dealer rooms, art show, and of course, the famous Dragon*Con Parade. Growing in size from the 1,400 people attending the inaugural 1987 event to over 46,000 at recent events, Dragon Con has a long history of being the greatest Sci-Fi and Fantasy convention. — DragonCon Wiki

From the DragonCon web site…

Bill Farmer is one of the busiest voice actors in the business. Just this year, Bill received an Emmy Nomination for his work on Disney’s Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the Friz Freiling Lifetime Achievement Award, the first time the honor has been given to a voice talent. In 2009, Farmer was honored with Disney’s highest award when he became a Disney Legend.

Farmer is best known for his work as Disney’s Goofy and Pluto. He has also played in The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse (1987), Goof Troop (1992), Mickey Mouse Works (1999), House of the Mouse (2001), Mickey Mouse Club House (2006), and over 3,000 other Disney projects. He is now recording the fourth season of the #1-rated Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, seen on the Disney Channel. Other major Disney films include Prince and the Pauper, A Goofy Movie, An Extremely Goofy Movie, The Three Musketeers, and Once Upon a Christmas. Disney/Pixar projects include work on Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., and Cars.

Farmer voiced Yosemite Sam, Sylvester, and Foghorn Leghorn for the movie Space Jam and worked with Warner Brothers doing the voices of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck on an episode of Robot Chicken last season. Farmer voiced Astro Boy in 2004 and a character in Shrek 2. He has also voiced numerous characters for video games.

Ever since he was a kid, Farmer was enamored with cartoons. He grew up in a small town in Kansas without much to do, so Saturday mornings were always fun because it was a time for cartoons. He learned he had a knack for doing voices of all the characters he liked. Goofy was a favorite. He never dreamed that one day he would actually become the voice of Goofy.

Bill believes that cartoon voices are not just about funny voices. He took acting classes when he moved to California. His mentor was the late Daws Butler, the voice behind many of the Hanna-Barbera characters. Daws got Bill to realize that when doing cartoon voices, you’re not merely doing a funny voice, you’re an actor. You have to think like the character you’re doing and convey the action in your voice.

Bill was quoted in this Los Angeles Times article about Russi Taylor, the voice of Minnie Mouse for the last 28 years!

I don’t know anybody in the world who is as lucky as I am,” said Taylor, who has a splash of pink in her whitish-blond hair. “I work with the best people.”

Her co-workers return the feeling.

“Russi has the tendency to get the giggles,” said Bill Farmer, a longtime friend who is the voices of Goofy and Pluto. “When she starts laughing sometimes it’s very difficult for her to stop. It is a blast.

“She embodies Minnie. What she adds is a large part of her personality to the character.”

When she was a young girl, Russi Taylor and her family visited Disneyland, where she had a close and remarkable encounter with Walt Disney himself.

“It was night time and we had just gotten off of the Mark Twain” boat ride. “There was a man sitting on the bench. We went past him to get popcorn.”

Taylor, who was a big fan of Disney’s TV series, knew the man sitting alone was Disney, but her mother didn’t believe her. “She said, ‘Honey, it couldn’t be.’” So her mother walked over and asked him if he was Uncle Walt. He told her he was. “My mother sat down and they started talking.”